Plant Euthanasia: When The Old Bush Just Has To Go

It is one of those subjects that just doesn’t talked about much. Oh sure, you hear about it afterwards, when the deed is done, but before hand… We whisper about it with our significant others or close family members. Plan quietly how we can kill with the least amount of mess and pain. We worry about what the neighbors will think about us afterwards.

The worst part is that you know it’s for the best. The time for them to pass over to the other side has long since come, gone and caught a Greyhound bus to Margaritaville. You would put them somewhere else, somewhere better able to care for them if you could, but now it is too late. You have grown weary of caring for them now that they are just the shadows of who they once were. The maintenance is just too great and the return is just too little. They were once a gorgeous, vibrant part of the world and now… well now you don’t even recognizing them.

We can’t help but ask ourselves… Are we doing this for them or are we doing this for ourselves.

Heck yes it is for ourselves! It’s a plant, for goodness sake.

It never ceases to amaze me how much agony people put into removing a part of their landscape. Often, people will agonize even more over a part of the landscape that was there from before they bought the house. Just because a shrub was planted the same year the house was built does not mean that the plant is somehow sacred. Chances are, if your house is over 20 years old, and you have some original plantings, you have some plants that really need to be put out of your misery. The only exception is trees. But even trees can be subject to euthanasia if you decide they are in the way.

I personally have done away with a few established plants and trees in my yard. Probably the biggest one was the 30′ pine tree that use to live in my front yard. That one did bring down the mild rebuke of my neighbors. “It was such a large gorgeous tree. How could you cut it down?”

Because it took up a third of my front yard, it was overgrown and was a driving hazard as it blocked the view of the road when you were backing out of the driveway, that’s how I could do it. Now a very nice raised flower bed exists where that tree was, and I have never regretted it.

Now I need to remove a few other holdovers (as pictured) from the previous owners and I am looking forward to it. Taking those bushes out will bring in a breath of fresh air to the look of my front garden. Not to mention I won’t have to hear my husband complain every time he has to push by them to get into the garage.

Point is, it is your garden. Not the neighbor’s garden. Not the previous owner’s garden. Yours. You make it what you want, regardless of previous input. If you have a plant in your yard that you are keeping simply because it was always there, you need to pull out a saw and just go Kevorkian on that sucker. Then say a small prayer for plants departed. Trust me, it’s for the best.